


the purest expression of grief

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: dimension 20 [51]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Canonical Character Death, Cheese Husbands (Dimension 20), Fae & Fairies, Love, M/M, Podfic Available, Religion, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, references to being burned alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25457842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: Morris burns and Jack mourns.
Relationships: Manta Ray Jack/Morris Brie
Series: dimension 20 [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107
Comments: 7
Kudos: 34





	the purest expression of grief

**Author's Note:**

> title from foreigner's god by hozier

Manta Ray Jack starts life as a commoner, and he claws his way up from the gutters and becomes one of the most feared pirates to sail the dairy seas (allegedly), and he rises further to become a man at arms for the royal house during the war. He is a war hero and he is beloved and he is wild and he is free and he never forgets the gutters of the streets that he came from, and when he sails the dairy sea- both under a flag of white and blue and the occasional flag dyed black- he gives worship to the spirits who guide the waves and call forth the storms.

During the war, during the fighting and the blade-slinging and the bloodshed and the _war_ , he meets Morris Brie.

Morris of the noble house of Brie, who was promised to the church as a child, who dons the golden armor of his station and carries it proudly, who lives in the light of the Bulb and finds comfort in its warmth.

They meet during the fighting and the bleeding and the screaming and they fall in love during the in-between times, the quietness of bandaged wounds and raucous laughter of fire-light stories and the long, long marches across the countryside, and then eventually, the war ends.

The war ends and Jack and Morris go home and they go home together and they _make_ a home together and it's the easiest thing either of them have ever done, to all and none of their surprise.

And sure, Morris twitches when Jack leaves milk for the fair folk on the window every morning and Jack scoffs when Morris kneels down to pray every night but that's just how Jack is and that's just how Morris is and in the face of everything they've seen and done, who are they to deny their love the things that bring them peace, and so they live together and love together and learn together and it's wonderful and everything they dreamed of during the in-between times of war.

Years pass and the peace begins to fray and Morris learns to guide the young Duchess through the complexity of court and Jack stands by the young Cheddar's side as she chooses to be a leader of a different kind. 

More years pass and they both find themselves needed, and-

Manta Ray Jack finds himself at the rebel duke's pagan castle celebrating the coronation of the Witch-Queen of Candia. He is surrounded by mercenaries and marauders and heretics, druids and witches and peasants; he gives his old friend and his family tattoos and it's crazy and wild and fun and free and _magical,_ it's a coronation and a revelry and a defiance all at once, and Jack would have it no other way.

Morris Brie is at Port Syrup and the heresy of heresies darkens the skies and razes the city and he is a sworn knight of the House of Cheddar but above that, above _everything_ , he is a knight of the Bulbian Church and so he stands at the doorway of the chapel so much like the one that still stands in his hometown and he burns in the armor that he wears so proudly and there will be no difference between the warm light of the Bulb that lights the path of his life and the Hungry One's fire that ends it.

Manta Ray Jack will be walking through the burnt out streets as ash falls from the sky and the skeletal husks of homesteads loom and he'll see the burnt out church and the melted armor standing guard before it and he'll _know_ and he'll refuse to understand.

He'll refuse until he's pressing his own hand against the still-warm metal absent of anything inside but ash and bones, and for the first time in his life, Manta Ray Jack will kneel in a church and pray, and as he prays to a being he doesn't believe in, can't ever believe in, he will do it for the soul of the man he loves.

**Author's Note:**

> absolutely losing it boys

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] the purest expression of grief](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476847) by [nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife)




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